08 February 2013

Hanamizuki Movie Review

Hirasawa Sae (Aragaki Yui) and Kouhei Kyochi
(Ikuta Toma)met by accident as they both were running late for exams; Sae in an
all-girls high school, and Kyochi in a fisherman’s high school. When their
train stops, they run after the bus, only to miss it. Sae then sees a car and
asks Kyochi to drive it, which ends with the car crashing in the gutter. Kyochi
takes the fall for it - and gets severely punished by his father, and Sae gets
suspended for hanging around with ‘that kind of boy’. Feeling bad Kyochi tries
to apologize to her, only to be rejected, but as they start conversing they
both open up.

Sae starts cram school, and Kyochi gets a
part-time job, so the two take the train together home, soon friendship becomes
love. Everything’s great until Sae passes her exams, and leaves for Tokyo to
study: the two separate.

In the beginning, they keep in touch
through phone, but as Sae meets Kitami Junichi (Mukai Osamu), a senpai that is
- like Sae’s passed away dad- a photographer, gets her involved with school
activities and a job, she ends up not having time for Kyochi. The two meet for
Christmas after a long while, only to end up fighting. They manage to make up,
but as time passes, life take unexpected turns and their views on live changes.
Will their love be able to maintain the hardships to come?

Now I can’t help and compare this movie
with the movie I watched recently: Architecture 101. Two countries, same theme,
but completely different stories, and feel to it. Really.

This movie follows two people’s lives,
loads of things happen and yet manage to keep me entertained, and that is
something very hard to do. I don’t really like ‘life stories’ - am going to now
- mainly because I watched some that didn’t really make me sit. And then this
pops up, and for some reason, it made me really bubbly inside, both sad
(mostly), and smiley. It’s a really good movie, and very enjoyable.